


The Bet

by perfect_cadence (Perfect_Cadence)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, cocky Gladio, various background Crownsguards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:39:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perfect_Cadence/pseuds/perfect_cadence
Summary: Fill for the following prompt: Several of the Crownsguard are bantering in the locker-room one day about who gets the most action. Cocky teen!Gladio boasts that he thinks he could get into anyone's pants that he wanted. The others tell him to put his money where his mouth is...they'll believe him if he can seduce serious, stuffy no-fun Ignis Scientia.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the following prompt:
> 
> Several of the Crownsguard are bantering in the locker-room one day about who gets the most action. Cocky teen!Gladio boasts that he thinks he could get into anyone's pants that he wanted. The others tell him to put his money where his mouth is...they'll believe him if he can seduce serious, stuffy no-fun Ignis Scientia.
> 
> Gladio is determined to win the bet but the more time he spends with Ignis, the more he realises he REALLY likes him. Far from stuffy, he's just shy. They eventually get together and Gladio thinks that stupid bet was the best idea ever - he's got a wonderful boyfriend now and is genuinely really happy.
> 
> Until Ignis and Noct overhear two of the crownsguard joking that they owe Gladio money, and who'd have thought Scientia would actually let someone touch him anyway.

The topic of conversation in the Crownsguard locker room that evening as the dozen young men towelled off was - as it often was - their love lives. Arctus Veridian and Legatus Anorian were trying to top each other with increasingly outlandish boasts as to who had had the most action and so could be crowned the group Lothario.

Eventually they agreed that they would go bar hopping at the weekend and whoever got the most action plus the most phone numbers would be declared the winner and the other would pay up. 

"What do you say, Amicitia?" asked Veridian good-naturedly. "You wanna give us a run for our money?"

"Guys, if I'm in, it's not a bet," Gladio announced confidently. "It's just your gil in my pocket!"

"Ohhh! Hark at Mister Big Bollocks!" joked Anorian. "Someone's a little cocky!"

"Just telling it like it is!" Gladio shrugged, just a little smugly. "I ain't never been turned down before!" 

"So what, you think you can get into anyone's pants?" Anorian pressed, eyes suddenly alight with mischief. 

"More or less," Gladio nodded. He knew he was a good looking guy. At nineteen, a fully-fledged member of the Crownsguard, Shield of the Prince and possessing a figure of defined, rippling muscle, he'd never been short of dates. 

"Ok troops," Anorian called. "I smell a wager. 100 Gil each that Amicitia can't bed the person of our choosing?" 

Six of the other guys immediately agreed, making eight in total. This would be the quickest money Gladio had ever made! Hold on, Veridian had whispered something to Anorian who was now _cackling_.

"That is superb!" Anorian commended his buddy. "Right then, Amicitia, we will owe you eight hundred gil if you can seduce Ignis Scientia!" The room dissolved in laughter. 

"Remember to remove the stick from his ass before you get in there!" joked someone. 

Gladio grimaced. Ignis Scientia?! The prince's wouldn't-know-fun-if-it-slapped-him-in-the-face advisor? Geez, him and his big mouth... Ignis practically had 'frigid' written on his forehead. 

Still though, a bet was a bet. He was the youngest member of this particular company and he had no intention of letting them see him back down for a challenge. And hey, even stick in the muds like Ignis needed a fuck now and then. 

"You're on, guys!" He declared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gladio realises he's underestimated the situation.

If this was going to work, Gladio mused, he was going to need to get close to Ignis first. Although he didn’t really know the guy very well beyond the polite conversation they exchanged orbiting around Noct’s periphery, he was pretty sure Ignis wasn’t the casual-fuck-in-the-locker-room type. He was unlikely to be intimate with someone he didn’t know well, so he’d need to work on becoming Ignis’s friend first if he was going to win that gil and prove himself the top dog of his Crownsguard unit.

Spending more time with him was unlikely to be a difficult task to achieve though; all Gladio really had to do was spend more time with Noctis, given that Ignis seemed permanently attached to his side, and unleash his best flirting. It had never let him down before. It wasn’t like Ignis probably got that much romantic attention anyway – he’d probably be easier to charm than any other guy Gladio had slept with! And at least he wasn’t bad to look at, either, even if he did dress like he was thirty instead of eighteen.

Before Gladio made any arrangements himself, rehearsing a conversation to Ignis explaining that they should get to know one another better to make them a more effective team, Noctis handed Gladio an opportunity on a silver platter. The prince’s sixteenth birthday was that coming weekend. There would of course be formal celebrations at the Citadel – the sort Noctis vehemently detested – but he wanted to do something private too. He invited Ignis, Gladio and Prompto, a chipper, likeable kid he shared classes with at school, to spend the night at his apartment – they symbol of his new independence – to eat pizza and play video games. It would be the perfect starting point!

Ignis might look like a marble statue and act as though there was a stick so far up his ass he sneezed splinters, but there had to be some warmth in there somewhere! And Gladio would find it. He was _not_ going to lose this bet!

OOO

Three hours into Noct’s casual little birthday party, Gladio was forced to concede that he’d entirely misjudged Ignis. He’d thought the guy was incapable of relaxing, incapable of humour or any sort of fun and had expected him to spend the night fussing over whether Noct ate healthily enough or some other uptight shit like that. Dry, sarcastic nagging had always seemed his modus operandi any time Gladio had been around him before, and he had continually frustrated Gladio’s attempts to be harder on Noctis and eradicate the prince's lazy attitude.

However, Gladio had been pleasantly surprised to find that the advisor had a quick, witty sense of humour, though a taste for absolutely awful puns. He gave Noctis as good as he got on the banter front, his low mellow laughter ringing out when Noctis managed a particularly creative reply.

And on top of that, Ignis could cook. Like, _really_ , properly cook. Gladio had fought not to roll his eyes when Ignis said he’d made pizzas himself rather than ordering the greasy take-out sort, but now he suspected he was ruined for takeaways. It was hands down the best pizza he’d ever eaten. Ignis flushed spectacularly when he told him that – leaving Gladio with a very confusing sensation in his stomach.

Then the advisor had brought out a chocolate cake that must have taken literally hours to make and cut them all generous slices, Prompto belting out a tone-deaf rendition of Happy Birthday as Noctis fought not to laugh.

“Six, this is amazing!” Prompto gushed enthusiastically after a few bites, leaning over to throw his arms around Ignis’s waist. The kid was the most tactile person Gladio had ever met, but he was so much like a little puppy that no one could bring themselves to be annoyed by it. “Iggy, are you in the market for a little brother? I don’t take up much room, and I’ll do all your dishes!”

Gladio expected Ignis to brush the both the remark and the boy off, but he was surprised to see Ignis hug Prompto back indulgently, his face breaking into a genuine smile, one Gladio had never seen before.

Holy fuck!

The guy was _gorgeous_ when he smiled! His face well and truly lit up, softening his angular features, and his bright green eyes crinkled at the corners. And how had Gladio never noticed those cheekbones before? He shook himself, realising he was staring. Ignis had obviously made a joke about being willing to take Prompto as a little brother because Noctis had indignantly put his own cake down long enough to whine: “Hey! _I’m_ your little brother!”

“But Prompto has much better manners, and never complains about eating vegetables,” Ignis replied, eyes twinkling, no hint of the formal mask he wore around the citadel to be seen. “Perhaps I should consider a trade in?”

"Specs, you traitor!" Noctis huffed dramatically. "Prompto, you can't have him!"

“You ok, big guy?” Prompto asked suddenly. “You’re kinda quiet tonight?”

 _I’m just staring at Ignis like a teenage girl wondering how I never noticed that he's pretty damn hot before!_ thought Gladio, as he felt his cheeks heat up. “I’m fine, sunshine. Less talking leaves more time for eating – I got my priorities right when it comes to food this good!”

Oh Gods, there was that smile again. 

It ended up being a rather bewildering evening for Gladio. He was supposed to be the one doing the charming and the wooing, damn it, but he found himself knocked for six every time Ignis smiled or laughed. Was he psychologically convincing himself he was attracted to Ignis because he’d been challenged to seduce him? Or was he genuinely attracted to the guy? He was so confused!

When the night eventually came to an end and they left Noctis and Prompto to head to bed, he and Ignis left the apartment together to head back to their cars. They walked in silence for the first flight of stairs, but it was a comfortable one, not the awkward pauses and mutual irritation which had seemed to punctuate their interactions before. Gladio realised that tonight had taught him that he didn’t know Ignis at all. He was even more surprised that, the bet aside, he genuinely wanted to change that.

“Um…listen, do you want to go for a coffee sometime?” he babbled, his carefully prepared speech disappearing from his brain. 

“Go for coffee?” A delicate pink blush began to stain Ignis’s cheekbones and Gladio found he wanted to lean in and kiss it off. What the fuck was wrong with him?

“Yeah, I notice you drink a lot of that Ebony stuff,” He tried to sound cool, but he suspected he was failing. They were holding eye contact and he felt a sliver of excitement creep up his spine. Why was he acting like he was his sister's age and on his first date?! “And we don’t really know each other that well – but I feel like if we’re going to spend the rest of our lives helping Noctis be the king he’s meant to be, we should probably change that.”

“I…I’d like that,” Ignis said, that gentle, gorgeous smile creeping out again. Gladio was doomed. “When did you have in mind?”

They compared schedules and found that Friday lunchtime was the first slot that was convenient for both of them. Gladio mentioned the nicest coffee house he knew, one not too far from the citadel and they settled a time.

“Great,” Gladio said, clapping Ignis on the shoulder. “I’ll see you Friday then!”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Ignis replied, staring up at Gladio through impossibly long lashes. “Goodnight, Gladio.”

The shield smiled the whole way home.


End file.
